HOUSTON (Ticker) - The Houston Rockets once again are without Tracy McGrady.

The Rockets announced Friday that their superstar leading scorer will be sidelined for up to five weeks with another back injury.

A six-time All-Star who has been dealing with back problems all season, McGrady fell on his tailbone late in the third quarter of Sunday's victory over Portland and did not return.

McGrady returned to the lineup Wednesday and scored 15 points in 21 minutes vs. Indiana before aggravating his back in the third period.

"It's frustrating," McGrady said afterward. "I've been dealing with it all season. It's the same old issue I've been dealing with."

McGrady had his back examined Friday by Dr. Robert Watkins, a back specialist who said that the injury was not considered chronic and a result of Sunday's fall.

The loss of McGrady is a serious blow for the Rockets (29-33), who are in 11th place in the Western Conference, 2 1/2 games behind the eighth-place Los Angeles Lakers. Houston is 2-13 without its superstar swingman this season.

orangedays

03-10-2006, 09:09 PM

d'oh.

It's Yao time.

NXperience

03-10-2006, 10:16 PM

Wow that's hard. I don't think that just Yao can push them into the playoffs. They really had a bad season injury wise so far.

mary

03-10-2006, 10:20 PM

Very unfortunate.

dude1394

03-10-2006, 10:24 PM

Very ouch.

Thespiralgoeson

03-11-2006, 01:45 AM

The dude needed to take the rest of the season off anyway. He needs to take it real easy this offseason.

Dirkenstien

03-11-2006, 08:43 PM

Yao-ch... looks like the big man will end the season with some big stats.

Rockets forward Tracy McGrady received an anti-inflammatory injection Wednesday to treat his injured lower back, a treatment that bars him from any physical activity and would explain how the team could estimate how long McGrady would be out before it had completed testing.

MRIs performed Saturday and Wednesday and other tests performed on McGrady showed no damage beyond the injury suffered when he fell March 5 against the Portland Trail Blazers. McGrady has suffered back spasms since the Rockets' practice Nov. 4, saying he has a bulging disk.

McGrady was declared out for as much as five weeks after he was examined last week by specialist Robert Watkins in Los Angeles. That would have him returning in the final week of the season, though Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said Wednesday that McGrady could miss the balance of the regular season.

"They do (consider it a solution)," Van Gundy said. "He'll be fine. Unfortunately, it happens that he'll be fine in the summer instead of now.

"They're characterizing it as two separate injuries — the problems he had with spasms throughout his career and this being a separate thing when he fell against Portland.

Games stacking up
"Going forward, (McGrady) is going to have missed 35 games and a few more by not being able to finish the games," Van Gundy said. "Most of those games were home games. On top of that, he had a period in January and February, he was healthy enough. We're going to need him to be healthy and playing very, very well for us to make the improvement we want to make going forward."

After Wednesday's 95-81 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, the Rockets are 2-17 in games McGrady has missed, with many other players out for many of those games.

The Rockets have had 13 players miss a combined 219 games with injuries or illness, making durability an important consideration in rebuilding.

"Our team's lack of durability this year doesn't change in the summer," Van Gundy said. "Our lack of durability has cost us big-time this year. You have to have a much more durable team, particularly your main guys. It's not our depth that's been at fault; it's that we had to go that deep without our best players too much, so we haven't had enough offense to withstand (injuries to) Yao (Ming) and Tracy.

"When you have as much of our (salary cap) wrapped up in those two guys, those guys have got to be out on the floor for you to be a good team.

"That being said, we could play better. We didn't have to shoot 34 percent the other night. We concentrate on what we can correct. Our guards don't have to be 12 feet off their man on a pick-and-roll. That doesn't have to do with any injuries to anybody. That's correctable."

Same hope
The Rockets began treatments on McGrady on Wednesday with the same hope.

"They'll keep doing tests to get more and more information," Van Gundy said, "but they're not unclear about the course of action they're taking."

kriD

03-17-2006, 12:53 PM

T-Mac eyes next season

This year likely over for ailing star unless Rockets in playoff hunt late

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

For the first time since he was helped off the Toyota Center floor, Rockets forward and leading scorer Tracy McGrady was there again Thursday.

It was, he said, the last time he expects to be on that court this season.

McGrady said the prognosis that he would be out "up to five weeks" was actually firm doctor's orders. Speaking at the Rockets' annual Tux & Tennies dinner, McGrady repeatedly referred to coming back "next season."

He was confident he would fully recover from his injury, a strained lower back. But he could only hope he would not suffer through another season of back spasms.

"I can't do anything physical until five weeks (from last week's diagnosis)," McGrady said. "That leaves me with four or five games left. It all depends on where we are after those five weeks. I'm definitely not ruling myself out right now. But if we're not in the running for the playoffs and we only have four or five games left, it really doesn't make sense for me to come back.

"Just prepare myself and get ready for next year — that's what my doctor advised me. The five weeks is definitely something I've got to abide by. That's not doing anything physical for five weeks."

orangedays

03-17-2006, 01:31 PM

:rolleyes:

He's had a tough tough year, maybe it's good that it's over.

Thespiralgoeson

03-17-2006, 11:17 PM

If houston was smart they'd trade him in the off-season to toronto.

It'd only be smart if they got Bosh for him. I'm not nearly as sure as you are that his career's over. Even if this hampers him for the rest of his career, I seriously doubt he won't be a top 20 player. At the very least, he'll be a great second option for Yao. And then there's always the chance that he heals back to his old superstar-self.